Editorial: Albany can do way better

Updated 5:54 pm, Tuesday, June 11, 2013

CDPHP is eyeing to build on this land where the city of Albany proposed to build the Albany Convention Center on Wednesday, June 5, 2013 in Albany, N.Y. CDPHP is also looking into rehabbing their current location.(Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

Relocation of CDPHP jobs is one possible substitute for a convention center.

THE STAKES:

The city needs to be bolder in developing such a critical piece of downtown property.

Under ordinary circumstances, it would be welcome news that one of upstate New York's leading health insurers might move to downtown Albany.

More than 1,000 jobs would follow if Capital District Physicians' Health Plan moves to a 4.5-acre site just off Broadway, not far from the Hudson River, and a few blocks from where Albany has successfully integrated housing, commerce and culture.

What a great idea that would be — under ordinary circumstances.

But it is an extraordinary location, one long envisioned for a convention center. With that notion now seemingly dead, it would be a mistake to hastily abandon the hopes that have attached to a site that could, with vision, someday be the heart of the city.

This is, remember, the last major undeveloped parcel downtown. It's ripe for building and free of the environmental problems that could hinder development. The Albany County Convention Center Authority still has $62 million in state funds that could be available for the right project there.

The goal still should be to give people a reason to come to Albany, and to give the city a more distinctive and enticing identity. The trial balloon floated by CDPHP — though it's a well-established company in an increasingly critical sector of the regional economy — fails that test.

The shame is that no one — neither the authority nor City Hall — has done much to pursue an alternative to the $220 million convention center project, which lost its luster in a poor economy. Surely there are possibilities more creative than relocating an office from the other side of town.

The state capital still needs to be better able to accommodate the government organizations, political entities, labor unions and other special interests that tend to converge here.

It still needs more housing downtown, and the amenities that go with it — a trend that has been taking hold not far from the convention center site.

It still needs the jobs to support Albany families that will follow smart development. Office buildings for commuters will bring some growth, but not the kind of economic stimulus that had been imagined might flow from a convention center.

A decision about a site with so much potential requires as creative and energetic a dialogue as ever. Let's hear some substantive ideas from the people who have opposed a convention center for a decade now, and from Mayor Jerry Jennings and those who aspire to be Albany's next generation of leaders.

Albany still has a great asset on its hands. It needs to capitalize on it as creatively as possible, with or without the state's cooperation in building a convention center.